End of an Era
by Fyrie
Summary: Set post-Angel finale: What happened after Angel and his team brought about Apocalypse? What about the people they left behind?


Notes: This fic is my automatic response to the final episode of Angel. Ie. "where was Faith? WAH!" So, yes. Spoilers herein for all of Buffy and Angel.

* * *

For the most part, it was a celebration and a reunion. It was rare, nowadays, for any of them to be in the same place for long, but they had all agreed that at this time, if they could, they would be together and remember.

Not everyone, of course, because not all of the ones who had been there at the end had been there since the beginning, but those who were together had reasons for wanting to be with the rest of them.

Giles had to admit he had been surprised at the sentimentality they had all shown, especially when it expanded to encompass them all. Xander had, perhaps, voiced it best, when he said, "We survived. A lot of people didn't. We can't forget that."

Which was why there was a space left at the table when they sat down to eat, for the woman and demon lost to them exactly one year earlier.

Even so, it had been a reasonably cheerful affair, with old stories, memories and laughter being exchanged, marked occasionally by moments of pensive silence and quiet wistfulness, for those who had been lost in years earlier.

Between the two eldest Slayers, the Watcher, the Witch, the Key and the one happily normal human, there seemed to be a ridiculous number of stories to go around for so few people.

The takeaway meals and pizzas were stone cold when there was a knock on the door of Giles' small apartment. Negotiating through a tangle of arms and legs, the former Watcher managed to reach the hall and, following that, the front door.

The single person on the other side of the threshold caused his brow to arch.

"Good evening," he said, the half of his body concealed by the front door stretching and reaching out for a sword neatly stored in the umbrella stand. "Can I help you?"

The figure nodded. "I'm looking for the Slayers," he said simply.

Giles inclined his head. "You're certainly not the first. Might I ask why?"

"I'm a friend of Angel's."

"So were several of their enemies," Giles said coolly. "If you wish to find them, then you had best tell me your purpose."

The visitor's eyes closed for a moment, then he looked at Giles. "Look, hon, I really need to speak to 'em, one or both, if you know where I can find 'em. Just speak, nothing more, I swear." He sighed. "I was told you were the man to see if I needed to find 'em so bad."

"And Angel sent you?"

"Not… sent exactly. I just figured I better come."

"Giles?" At the end of the hall, a blonde head poked around the living room door. "Uh… why's'there a demon standing in the door?"

"Selling girl scout cookies?" A second voice added, laughing a little. The blonde was joined by a dark-haired girl, who stared at the demon, then darted forward, grabbing Lorne's arm and jerking him into the hall. "Giles, this is Lorne. He's a good guy. Don't worry. You can shut the door if you wanna."

The Watcher nodded, letting the sword slip back into the umbrella stand and closing the door over.

"Now, spill!" Faith said. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Looking for you and Blondie, there, sweetcheeks," Lorne replied, reaching up to squeeze her shoulder. "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure!" Faith nodded, moving closer. The green-skinned demon lowered his head and spoke softly to her, his voice little more than a whisper as he reached out and took one of her hands, the colour draining from the Slayer's face. "No."

"I'm sorry, hon."

Faith stared at him, betrayal rife on her features and Giles felt compelled to step closer, to provide unspoken support, but she shied back, wrenching her hand from the demon's as if he had burnt her. "He wouldn't. Not without callin' for back up."

"I wish it wasn't true," the demon said unhappily.

"It's not!" Faith's voice rose to a scream and she punched out at the wall. The plaster cracked under the force, tiny lines cobwebbing across the white surface, the Slayer's expression bleak. Any thought Giles might have had of protecting his property from the girl's supernatural strength went out the window at the sight of her expression. "Goddamn it, Lorne! You know it's not true!"

Behind the girl, several more figures were watching from the door of the living room, silent, pale.

"Faith, I wouldn't come here, if it wasn't."

She stared at him wildly. "Then why aren't you there?" Her hands caught the front of his sage-green suit, shaking him like a ragdoll. "Why the hell did you leave? What if he needed your help, you son of a bit…"

"Faith," Buffy approached, laying her hand on the other girl's shoulder.

Jerking away from the touch, Faith threw Lorne back with a sharp, derisive sound, slamming both fists high against the wall again, but this time, she didn't turn back around. Her forearms pressed against the plaster, her head against her wrists. Silently, her thin shoulders started to shake.

Giles frowned, laying his hand on the shaken Lorne's shoulder, his grip harder than it looked. "What did you say to upset her so?"

"Bullshit!" the dark-haired Slayer whispered viciously, her voice trembling. "He's talkin' bullshit."

Helpless red eyes stared at Faith. "Angel took out all the representatives of Hell in LA," he mumbled, lowering his eyes. "Their bosses weren't exactly happy. They sent an army after Angel and his people. Angel, Wesley, Gunn, Spike… they're… they're all dead."

"Oh God…"

Ignoring Buffy's words, Faith spat again, "It's bullshit!" The emotion in her voice was unmistakable now, her fists tightened into white knuckles. "Angel ain't as dumb as all that! He'd call! He'd call for back-up!"

"Faith…" The elder Slayer's voice was trembling as fiercely as the younger's.

"Can it, B!" Faith whirled around, her face crumpled as if she were trying hard to hold back tears. "I saved that bastard's ass! I saved his ass! He wouldn't do somethin' dumb like this without tellin' me!"

"Maybe that's why he did it like this," Buffy said softly, ignoring the tears on her own pale cheeks. "He wouldn't want you to get killed as well."

"But we're all fightin' for the same thing, B," Faith's voice had shrunk to a whisper, as if she didn't trust herself to speak in anything louder. "He shoulda called us… we coulda done somethin'…"

"This one was his fight," Buffy gently caught Faith's narrow shoulders, holding her, preventing her from running, or fighting, or struggling. Faith shook her head. "Faith, it was."

"He shoulda called," the dark-haired Slayer's voice broke. "I… I thought he was my friend…" She tried to pull away from Buffy, trying to shield her face as the tears broke from her eyes. "I-I thought he… I thought he trusted me… I… thought he would want me with him…"

As Faith sagged in Buffy's grip, her whole body slumped with despair, the blonde Slayer squeezed her arms firmly.

"I know, Faith," she whispered softly, urgently. "He did trust you, he believed in you and trusted you more than anyone I know, but he wanted to keep you safe. He wanted you to survive and keep fighting."

Faith pressed the heels of her hands against her forehead, shaking her head.

"She's right," Giles added his words to Buffy's, his gaze remaining on the two girls. His grip had lightened on Lorne's shoulder, more reassuring than restraining now. "Buffy's right, Faith. Angel wanted you to have a chance to live properly."

"But he was my goddamn friend…" she whispered. "I don't got many… he was meant to stick around…"

Giles smiled wanly. "We've all had friends like that, Faith," he said, recalling the close knot whom he had lost to Eyghon and the dark magics years before. "But he would want you to go on, you know."

Buffy extended an arm to her sister, the tall brunette practically leaping across the hall to Buffy's embrace. "He knew you wouldn't be on your own, Faith," she said softly, her other hand still resting on the darker Slayer's shoulder. "He made sure you'd be with us before he did anything. He didn't want you to be alone again."

"But he's fucking gone. He's not comin' back." Faith's words were brittle and shaking.

"Yeah, I know," Buffy said, her voice soothing. "I know how it feels, Faith."

Faith's eyes lifted to Buffy's. "Yeah…" she mumbled. "You do… don't you?"

Buffy nodded, her fingers stroking through her sister's hair. In that moment, she looked so calm, so sad and so noble that Giles almost felt his heart break for her. "We all do," she said. "We've all had someone who meant as much as Angel did to you."

"Like Anya," Xander spoke up quietly from the doorway, where he had an arm around Willow's shoulders. Giles was unsurprised to see they were both looking more than a little upset.

The red-haired woman nodded. "And Tara," she said, her words calm and level despite the tears threading down her pale cheeks.

"And mom," Dawn's voice was shaking. "And Spike. Twice now."

The dark-haired Slayer looked from face to face, then back at Lorne. "You're sure?" she whispered.

Lorne nodded sadly. "All of 'em, hon."

"Shit…" she mumbled, then hastily scrubbed her cheeks with one hand. "Looks like you guys are stuck with me, then."

Buffy forced a heavy sigh. "Poor us."

"A real shame," Giles added dryly.

"One big happy family," Xander said with a tentative smile.

"Big, sorta happy, fucked-up family," Faith tried out the words, then smiled sadly, crookedly. "I guess I could get used to that."

Unnoticed by the younger people, Giles' quiet sigh of relief was only observed by the demon. "Glad I found her here, sweets," Lorne murmured as the group started making their way back to the living room. "Wouldn't want her to be on her own."

"I don't think she ever will be again," Giles admitted, then glanced at the demon. "Would you want to stay for a little while, Mister Lorne?"

Lorne shook his head. "I've done what I came for," he said soberly. "You look after her for us, kay?"

Giles nodded with a tired smile. "Of course," he said. "Take care."

The demon nodded, slipping out of the hall and into the night as the Watcher returned to rejoin the two Slayers, the Witch, the Key and the man, all of whom had become the children he never had.


End file.
